Friends of the Earth (Melbourne)'s renewable energy campaign

Global Wind ‘Nudging 300GW’

A study by the World Wind Energy Association has found that the global wind capacity is reaching 300 GW, with Australia having about 1% of this capacity. Until fair wind farm laws are reinstated in Victoria, how can we expect the Victorian wind sector to make major growth and be an influence in driving Australia’s capacity?

The original article was published by renews.biz/. The article can be found here.

Global wind capacity reached 296,255MW by the end of June with 13,980MW of this added in the first six months of 2013, a study shows.

The 5% rise was revealed in the half-year report by the World Wind Energy Association, which also showed the wind turbines installed worldwide by mid-2013 are capable of meeting some 3.5 % of global electricity demand.

The increase in capacity, however, is significantly less than in the first half of 2012 and 2011 when 16.5GW and 18.4GW were added respectively for rises of 7% and 9%.

China, the US, Germany, Spain and India account for a combined 73% of the current global capacity.

The largest market in the first six months of 2013 was China, which saw 5.5GW of new capacity added to take it to 80GW. It was followed by the UK with 1.3GW added, India on 1.2GW and Germany with 1.1GW. In 2012 only three countries had a market volume that topped 1GW.

The report states that the US, meanwhile, has experienced “an unprecedented virtual halt of wind turbine sales” in the first six months of 2013 after setting a new record of 13GW in 2012. The WWEA repeated figures published by the American Wind Energy Association claiming the nation saw only 1.6MW of new capacity installed compared with 2883MW in the year-ago period.

WWEA President He Dexin said: “The year 2013 is a difficult year for the wind industry worldwide as the companies have to struggle with a decreasing market size.

“This situation has already led to decrease in wind turbine prices which will make wind power even more cost-competitive. Though we face some challenges we are still confident.”

The report, which is available here, states that the WWEA expects 318GW to be achieved globally for the full year.

6 thoughts on “Global Wind ‘Nudging 300GW’”

I don’t think anybody has said that it doesn’t work it just doesn’t necessarily work when you need it to and relies on a reliable backup source of electricity due to intermittency. It is the reason the developed world moved on from wind in the first place.

And nobody ever said wind energy alone would replace fossil fuels. Your last sentence is a denial of reality. There is no country in the world that has turned away from wind energy, to the country, more and more are adopting it. But you would know that if you were even vaguely interested in the evidence. Your cognitive dissonance is astounding.

I recommend getting someone to check out your Narcissistic Personality Disorder your symptoms of pervasive patterns of grandiosity and self-importance and distinct lack of empathy are worrying. The world did move away from wind when fossil fuels began to be used during the industrial revolution and have only re-emerged due to the green scam which is supporting these inefficient machines.

Thanks Gerard, just what I needed, a pseudo-psychological assessment from a pseudoscientist. You should work as an adviser for Tony Abbott.

But thanks for admitting that wind energy is once again growing around the world. Green scam? Only in your tiny little imagination. I’m sure the International energy agency knows a little bit more than you ever will.

I must have received my psych degree from the same cornflake packet you did (and how rude of me not to thank you for your pseudo-psychological diagnosis) I love the way you twist words, it really is a special skill that narcissist bullies have. Sure wind energy is growing – not because it is practical, but because of green washing of politicians and fools.